How to simply determine the L/D of your glider

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:07:54 -0800 (PST), jan
wrote:


If you haven't done these seat of the pants measurements with your
own gliders I would suggest you all do them. It takes a little
practice and time to do the averaging over many flights. Interestingly
after a time and with practice you will find the measurements become
quite consistent which suggests that they might represent something
close to reality.

Hi Dave,

as others already pointed out, you are measuring an L/D that is
typical for your flying style, but not the performance of your glider.

In my AS 22-2 I usually get an L/D of 75 (!) on long flights, although
in reality its maximum L/D is only about 55.


Andreas